The Equinox is a time of change, and with this in mind, we are celebrating our community of families and farmers here in Vermont on September 22-23 at our Equinox Celebration. We are also preparing to share our harvest more broadly when we invite new families to join our community with our Share the Stories, Share the Food: Fall Membership Campaign that begins this week with a gift of $35 for first time members.
We are motivated by a dream of a healthy food system — one that creates healthy families, healthy farms and a healthy planet. Together we are building just this kind of food system. This has been a dream of mine and now it is a dream that is shared and supported by you.
The Autumnal Equinox is special for me because it is a time of setting intentions, when nature shifts its focus to sensing, awareness and crystallization. This is a time for making and dispersing seeds.
With this in mind we have an ambitious goal to grow our partnership to feed 1000 families each week. Here is what happens when we reach that goal.
- For our farmers – Feeding 1000 families creates bigger demand for our farmers’ extraordinary food. The recent merger of Amazon and Whole Foods has made it harder than ever for small farms to sell through those stores. Our farmers are suffering and they need our support.
- For our organization – Feeding 1000 families improves our financial health so we can share this model with other communities and fund our own growth and outreach.
- For you, our partner families – Feeding 1000 families builds more awareness, leads to more convenient pickup sites, allows us to bring on more farms (more food, greater variety, more choices!) and improves the health of families.
- For our whole community – Feeding 1000 families approaches a tipping point in our health, our farms’ health, and the environment’s health. Reaching this goal means we have done it! We will have built our own self-sustaining and healthy local food system.
Today I am asking you to share your stories — stories of how knowing who is feeding you has changed your life, stories about why you choose to get your food from sources that are healthy for us all, stories about why you enjoy the Farmers To You community. Think of this as scattering seeds in the fall — and as we bring the warmth and light of your stories to them, they will grow.
Sincerely,
Greg
